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4 books by grivas
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BEATING THE FIANCHETTO DEFENCES
Author: Efstratios Grivas
Gambit (2006)
191 pages
$25.95
CHESS COLLEGE 1: STRATEGY
Author: Efstratios Grivas
Gambit (2006)
111 pages
$18.95
CHESS COLLEGE 2: PAWN PLAY
Author: Efstratios Grivas
Gambit (2006)
111 pages
$18.95
CHESS COLLEGE 3: TECHNIQUE
Author: Efstratios Grivas
Gambit (2006)
111 pages
$18.95
Reviewed by John Donaldson
A visitor to the Olympiads of 1980 and 2006 could not help but notice
some of the changes in the latter event. Digital clocks, faster time
controls and no adjournments might top the list as would the ban on
smoking! Also, who could help but recognize how many more strong teams
were competing in both the open and women's competition? These strong
new additions span the globe and even come from traditional strongholds
like Western Europe. Think back to what sort of teams France and Greece
fielded in 1980 -- not one Grandmaster! Today they field all GM teams.
This transformation has been particularly remarkable in Greece, a
country that had only a handful of IMs when I played there in 1980. One
cannot point to a single reason for this metamorphosis from chess
desert to garden but one turning point was the appointment of IM
Nikolay Minev to serve as coach of the Greek team in the late 1970s.
His work served as the catalyst to produce the first GMs from Hellas --
Spyridon Skembris and Efstratios Grivas. The latter has recently turned
into a very industrious writer. Not too long ago he wrote a
well-received book on his beloved Sicilian variation 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6
3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qb6 and now he has written four more impressive works
for Gambit Publications.
BEATING THE FIANCHETTO DEFENCES is an opening repertoire book based on
1.d4 and 2.c4 (though it would also work for many players who open with
1.Nf3 or 1.d4 and 2.Nf3) with the defining characteristic that White
develops his King Knight to f3.
Grunfeld: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bg5
King's Indian: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.h3
Modern Benoni: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 7.Nf3 Bg7 8.h3 0-0 9.Bd3
Benko Gambit: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.Nf3
Modern Defense: 1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.Nf3
GM Grivas is a believer in move-by-move analysis and there is plenty of
it. In particular I would point out the Grunfeld variation with 5.Bg5
where he is one of the world's great experts. Grivas also does a good
job of explaining the ideas and typical motifs of each variation. Each
chapter gives model games with typical endgames and characteristic
middlegames that are carefully chosen.
If you are rated 2000 on up, looking for a stable opening repertoire,
and have a positional style, this book is for you. I would not be
surprised to find a companion volume in preparation covering Black's
other responses to 1.d4. Just to know, Grivas meets the 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4
e6 with 3.Nf3 and the Queen's Indian with 4.g3.
Highly recommended
When I started playing in the early 1970s, the middlegame was not well
covered in chess literature. The two-volume series by Euwe and Kramer
was still read but dated, the same was true of the many works by
Pachman and Fine's giant tome. Since then many books have appeared on
various aspects of the middlegame but no attempt to revisit the
systematic, multi-volume series of Euwe/Kramer and Pachman have been
made until recently. Croatian GM Drazen Morovic took a stab a few years
ago for Gambit and now GM Grivas has produced a trilogy for the same
publisher.
CHESS COLLEGE 1: STRATEGY, CHESS COLLEGE 2: PAWN PLAY, and CHESS
COLLEGE 3: TECHNIQUE are all attractively produced 110 page books in
the usual oversize (6 1/2 by 9 3/4), two column Gambit format that is
both readable but also packing in a lot of information per page. This
is a very personal series. Grivas, who is a good Grandmaster, relies
almost exclusively on what he knows best -- his own games -- in volumes
1 and 2 with volume 3 about evenly divided between his own games and
others. All aspects of the middlegame are covered by Grivas who writes
clearly and effectively. Those that play his life-long loves of 1.d4,
the King's Indian and Sicilian (4...Qb6) will get an added bonus in the
form of a wealth of well-annotated games in the their favorite
openings. Trainers will find the three books a tailor made course to
guide their students through the fundamentals of proper middlegame play.
Highly recommended
Click to buy (or get more information about) CHESS
COLLEGE 1: STRATEGY
Click to buy (or get more information about) CHESS
COLLEGE 2: PAWN PLAY
| | Copyright © 2006 John Donaldson | | | |
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